Reviewed: Rendezvous in Cannes by Jennifer Bohnet

Rendezvous in Cannes was a lovely little treat of a book and as I have come to expect from a Jennifer Bohnet novel, a really enjoyable read with a story that distracts you from real life and has you dreaming of sunnier days. For me it’s the perfect holiday read – a light romance set in a dreamy location with a captivating story full of secrets and mystery. Provided you’ve got a couple of hours spare, because it’s not the easiest of books to put down!

The book opens with Anna on her way to the Cannes Film Festival, something she’d managed to avoid for over thirty years previously. Working in film production, she was shocked to hear on her journey to Cannes for the festival that well-known film director Philippe Cambone had had a heart attack and died. The opening chapter to this book was brilliant and really had me intrigued. I set out at the time to only read the first chapter and before I knew it, I was two thirds of the way through the book and completely hooked, wondering what Anna was hiding and eager to learn more about the mysterious Philippe Cambone who, as it turned out, nobody really knew much about at all.

Interlinking with Anna’s story was the character of Daisy. Daisy was a journalist at the Cannes Film Festival which was probably the biggest job she’d worked on. She was having a few doubts about her future as a journalist, knowing any job security was pretty non-existent and not finding the kind of stories she was working on exactly rewarding. I really liked Daisy. She always had a journalistic eye on things but it didn’t turn her into the traditional representation of a selfish, mean, backstabbing character. She might have kept quizzing Anna and trying to work out why she was keeping things from her but she still remained a genuine, caring person.

The mystery of what Anna was hiding had me engrossed and made the story a real page-turner but it didn’t lose its appeal once the secret was out either. I was surprised by the true extent of her secret having only guessed a small part of it. I felt like the reveal did the book justice, being realistic and adding a more emotional depth to the story.

Rendezvous in Cannes’ narrative is quite fast-moving which was easy to read, although there were a couple of times where I felt things could have been slowed down a bit to add more context to the story. For example, there was one quite significant moment in Anna’s life that happened and seemed to get whizzed over in just a couple of sentences where I felt there could have been more emotion showed. However, I felt for the most part the quick pace worked well as it allowed the reader to immerse themselves in the lives of the characters as they grew, changed and developed throughout.

I loved how Jennifer really transports the reader to Cannes and allows us to soak up the atmosphere of the film festival. Her descriptions really bring the story to life, not just drawing us to the hustle and bustle of a busy festival but also adding more colour to the story with detail to the food and drink, the weather, the fashion, the scandal… Everything was so beautifully built up that by the time the book came to an end, I felt like I’d had my very own trip to the Cannes Film Festival instead of purely a fictional one, and honestly, I loved every minute of it! The book came to an end quite perfectly – a fitting way to end what was a really lovely story.